- Netflix on Apple TV no longer uses tvOS video player
- This results in minor but annoying interface changes
- But this also means that some features are now missing from the app.
Netflix has changed the way its app works on Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K streaming devices, and given the popularity of these devices with home theater enthusiasts, it’s no surprise that many viewers are unhappy with the results of this particular update.
Instead of using the video playback software and screen built into the tvOS operating system, which ensures a consistent experience no matter which streaming service you use, Netflix decided to do things differently. Netflix has now replaced the tvOS player with its own custom player, and this player not only looks different, but it also doesn’t work with a set of playback features that users have been using for years and years.
Netflix isn’t the only streamer doing this; Disney+ also uses its own player. But Netflix Player removes some basic functions when skipping or playing shows and the changes aren’t appreciated by some viewers. (This isn’t the first time Netflix has broken with integrating Apple technology, either — it’s already ignoring the Up Next section of the Apple TV app.)
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What did Netflix do to the Apple TV app?
The Netflix app update changed some standard features. For example, when you click backward or forward on your Apple TV remote, the standard behavior is for the show to move forward or backward 10 seconds, and users are used to this.
Not anymore: as viewer iamonreddit explains, “Now it pauses and shows the frame picker, then you have to click again. Didn’t they do any research or usability testing before releasing this? It’s also not smooth at all.”
According to FlatpanelsHD, several other tvOS player features are now not available in the Netflix app, including the convenient automatic closed captioning that kicks in when you rewind or mute the show; the ability to use Enhance Dialog; video/audio format information and details in the drop-down menu, the ability to double-tap to know when the show or movie ends, and even integration with the helpful “Remote” app on iPhone and iPad.
This may seem like much ado about nothing, but one of the reasons people buy Apple TV is its user interface: it’s a nice place to hang out. And when apps go against that, for example to provide the same experience you’d get on a Fire TV or Android device, they make the experience on Apple TV worse — maybe not by much, but enough to be another irritant. And the irritants accumulate.
But it may not just be an interface issue. Other Redditors shared their negative experiences with Netflix. “The new player is pretty bad. And 4K doesn’t feel like 4K,” Lusid1 posted. Leckie described “constant quality issues…things will become randomly pixelated and I have to force quit the app…nothing else has issues and all other apps work just fine.” And aisuperman is “about to unsubscribe from an app with a video player from the 2000s.”
I think Redditor b2717 said it best: “For me, it’s like someone moved all the doorknobs in my house to the other side, right next to the hinges. They may still technically work, but it makes using them harder and more annoying. And every time I do, I’ll be reminded how useless it all is.”
This also follows Netflix’s announcement of a new price hike in the US, which includes the second price increase for the Premium plan in just 14 months, so already people are wondering if they want to keep the service.
Reddit user Motorik puts his point of view very simply: “The latest Netflix app update is ‘time to unsubscribe’ bad.”
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